Hold Congress Accountable

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When confronted with a rapidly rising prison population, which had grown exponentially between 1982 and 2011 from 13,884 prisoners to almost 56,000, newly-elected Georgia Governor Nathan Deal decided to take action to address the problem of overincarceration in his state. By adopting smart on crime policies to reinvest limited resources into violent criminals that need to be in prison and into rehabilitative measures for those who can contribute to society, Gov. Deal’s three-phase initiative continues to be a huge success, both for public safety and fiscal savings.

The total debt in the United States has continually risen, year after year, increasing almost fourfold since the start of the 21st century. What was a total debt of $5.75 trillion in January of 2000 is now over $20.45 trillion. This number has risen due to excessive government spending, with few mechanisms to hold it accountable otherwise.

As the Trump administration seeks to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico, a key issue for U.S. trade negotiators is better and more enforceable protections of intellectual property (IP) rights. This must include more legally binding protections of patents, copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets, and other engines of invention and creation, which face a growing array of threats in foreign markets, including even our closest North American trade partners.

FreedomWorks has released a key vote in support of the 21st Century Aviation Innovation, Reform, and Reauthorization (AIRR) Act, H.R. 2997. The bill would reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the current authorization for which expires on September 30, for six years and modernize the United States’ air traffic control (ATC) system.

The current authorization for Title VII, including the controversial Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), will expire on December 31, 2017. Discussion of reauthorization with reform has already begun in the House. In the Senate, however, Republican members of the Select Committee on Intelligence have backed legislation that would permanently reauthorize FISA without any reform.

After a long wait and leaked discussion drafts, on Monday, March 6, the House Ways and Means Committee and House Energy and Commerce Committee released their recommendations to repeal and replace ObamaCare through reconciliation. These committees were originally due to have their recommendations submitted to the House Budget Committee on January 27, as required by S.Con.Res.3. The recommendations are collectively referred to as the American Health Care Act, or the AHCA.

In recent days, Congress has targeted several midnight rules, those finalized and published in the final days of the Obama administration, through the Congressional Review Act. The effort is part of the rediscovery of Article I of the Constitution and the separation of powers, as well as the threats the regulatory state presents to the economy. In this issue brief, FreedomWorks offers background on the Congressional Review Act, the law's deficiencies, how to give it teeth through the passage of the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act.

"As Ebola and other emerging diseases continue to dominate our headlines, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to be America's front line of defense against the outbreak of a devastating epidemic. However, the agency has stumbled, and an examination of its activities reveal an institution often more focused upon advancing progressive social priorities and nanny-state interventions than simply performing well at its one intended job."

As Ebola and other emerging diseases continue to dominate our headlines, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to be America's front line of defense against the outbreak of a devastating epidemic. However, the agency has stumbled, and an examination of its activities reveal an institution often more focused upon advancing progressive social priorities and nanny-state interventions than simply performing well at its one intended job.

It has been 3 years since the Patient Protection and AffordableCare Act was pushed through Congress by Democrats and signedinto law by President Barack Obama. Yet despite the re-electionof President Obama and the law’s narrow survival in the SupremeCourt, the future of the still-controversial law is anything but certain.(READ THE REPORT)